■El 



Hollinger Corp* 
pH 8.5 



Cavalier Tunes 
The Lost Leader 

AND OTHER POEMS 



BY 



ROBERT BROWNING 



WITH INTRODUCTION AND NOTES 



BY 



M. A. EATON, B*A. 



y / 



educational publishing COMPANY 

BOSTON 

New York Chicago San Francisco 



%lit 



yBRARY of CONFESS 
Two Copje^"ffeceive(f 

UEB19 mi. 

\a (^rieht Entry 



Copyrighted 

By educational rUBLISHING COMPANY 

1906 



CONTENTS 



PAGE 



Introduction . 5 

Cavalier Tunes . . -. . . .11 

The Lost Leader ...... 14 

I' "How they Brought the Good News from 

Ghent to Aix" 16 

The Pied Piper of HameKn .... 20 
Incident of the French Camp . . . -32 

Heiv6 Riel . 34 

Home-Thoughts, from Abroad . . .41 

Home-Thoughts, from the Sea ... 42 

The Boy and the Angel 43 

Pheidippides 47 

Evelyn Hope . 56 

One Word More 58 

Notes . . . . . . . .69 

3 



N 



INTRODUCTION 

Robert Browning's life was a singularly fortunate 
one. From boyhood every condition favored him, 
and he lived to reap the honors which are bestowed 
upon most great poets only long years after they are 
dead. 

He was born at Camberwell, a suburb of London, 
May 7, 1812. His parents were well-conditioned 
and well-to-do people, his father a clerk in the Bank 
of England, and his mother a Scotch woman of 
gentle breeding and great musical talent. Although 
a business man, his father also had artistic aspira- 
tions, and was a great lover of books, particularly 
poetry. Thus, in his earliest years, Browning was 
surrounded by an atmosphere favorable to his genius. 
In education he was allowed to follow his own bent 
and was taught chiefly by private tutors, save for 
ten years during which he studied languages at 
London University. 

He read widely, especially eighteenth century liter- 
ature and the poets Byron, Shelley and Keats; be- 
came versed in French, and was fond of such sports 
as dancing, boxing, and riding. One of his earliest 
memories was of ''sitting on his father's knee in 
the library, and listening with enthralled attention 
to the Tale oj Troy, with marvellous illustrations 
among the glowing coals of the fireplace, with, 
above all, the vaguely-heard accompaniment from 
the neighboring room, where Mrs. Browning sat, 
'in her chief happiness, her love of darkness and 

5 



6 INTRODUCTION 

solitude and music ' — of a wild Gaelic lament, with 
its insistent falling cadences." 

He began to make poetry himself at a Very early 
age and even then his verses, though largely copies 
of Byron and Shelley in form, were strongly individ- 
ual. His first published poem, Pauline, was written 
when he was twenty, but it was not a work of marked 
originality like Paracelsus, which followed two years 
later. The latter poem was thoroughly character- 
istic of the Browning of later years both in subject 
and treatment, and contained the germ of all his later 
philosophy. 

Paracelsus was rapidly followed by other poems 
and dramas, some, like the volume Bells and Pome- 
granates, of a mere lyric and popular character, and 
some, like Sordello, marked by an obscurity of ex- 
pression which is characteristic of its author. 

In 1846, Browning married the poetess, Elizabeth 
Barrett. The marriage was a sudden and secret 
one, for Miss Barrett had long been an invalid and 
her father was sternly opposed to such a union. 
The two poets, therefore, took matters into their 
own hands, and after a quiet marriage, took up their 
life in Italy. Mr. Barrett never forgave his daughter, 
but in spite of that the union was a happy one, and 
for fifteen years they led an ideal life in their beloved 
Italy, furnishing a beautiful example of what human 
comradeship can be. 

During this period Browning published what is, 
perhaps, his best work, in the volume Men and Wo- 
7nen, work marked at once by dramatic intensity and 
poetic fervor. The death of Mrs. Browning in 186 1, 
however, put an end to this idyllic life and recalled 
him to England. He made a new home for himself 
in London, where he was educating his only son, 



INTRODUCTION 7 

and the volumes came from his pen faster than be- 
fore. His most ambitious work, The Ring and the 
Book, was pubKshed in 1868. It is one of the longest 
poems in the language, and is the record of a tw^o- 
hundred-year old murder case told by a number of 
different persons from different points of view. It 
is a striking example of Browning's extraordinary 
power of discerning the motive and thought back of 
human action. 

In his later years the poet devoted himself chiefly 
to Greek poetry and drama, and his last poems 
are built upon this foundation. These years 
also brought him wide recognition and honors, 
and he lived a kind of public life, sought on all 
sides. 

His death occurred December 12, 1889, at his 
son's home in Venice, the day on which his last 
volume, Asolando, was published. He was buried 
in the Poet's Corner in Westminster Abbey, an 
honor among the highest that England can bestow 
upon her sons. 

In mere amount Browning has written more than 
any other poet since Shakespeare. And all his 
numerous volumes of works are stamped with an 
individuality of remarkable strength and richness. 
In spite of this, however. Browning has never been 
a popular poet. The very richness of his nature 
and the eagerness of his thought make him often 
obscure both in expression and outline. His verse 
is often designedly rugged rather than musical, but 
it is not intentionally puzzling. His thought is usu- 
ally clear and simple, like all great thought, but, in 
his impatience to get it expressed, in his love for 
tracing out every motive of the mind, he cannot stop 
to arrange his thoughts. The result is that the 



8 INTRODUCTION 

reader must supply the ellipses. Browning says of 
his own writing: 

" I can have little doubt that my writing has been 
in the main too hard for many I should have been 
pleased to communicate with; but I never designedly 
tried to puzzle people, as some of my critics have 
supposed. On the other hand, I never pretended 
to ofifer such literature as should be a substitute for 
a cigar, or a game at dominoes, to an idle man. So, 
perhaps, on the whole I get my deserts and some- 
thing over — not a crowd, but a few I value more." 

In spite of some very fine lyric passages. Browning 
is essentially a dramatic poet. But his is a drama 
of thought and feeling rather than of action. Not 
that his poetr}' is purely subjective, but that he uses 
action only to illustrate the thoughts and motives 
and passions that actuate his characters — a reversal 
of the usual procedure. In form his poetry is largely 
monologue, a form which, though intensely dramatic, 
makes larger demands upon the reader, for he must 
be able to supply the words of the silent characters as 
well as the stage setting. But by using this form. 
Browning can most easily make the human soul the 
seat of action, unconsciously exhibiting its minutest 
shades of thought and feeling hefore our eyes. 

Few poets have succeeded so remarkably in under- 
standing the obscure recesses of the human soul; 
yet, for all his subtlety of discernment. Browning has 
a robustness of mind, a hopeful confidence in human 
nature and a wholesome joy in living and loving 
that make him the most health-giving and invig- 
orating of poets. He has an abounding love of 
nature which often breaks out in brilliant flashes 
of great beauty in the midst of his soul drama, and 
he has a musical feeling for rhythm, which means 



INTRODUCTION 9 

more to him than beauty of words. His philosophy 
is full of good cheer. He shows us that in the great 
scheme of life our failures are often successes, that 
the humblest service is just as necessary in the whole 
product as the greatest, that, whatever the short- 
comings of human nature, it is bound to work out 
its own redemption through the power of that Love 
which guides the universe, and from which neither 
Heaven nor earth can separate us. 

"All service ranks the same with God: 
If now as formerly he trod 
Paradise, his presence fills 
Our earth, each only as God wills 
Can work — God's puppets, best and worst, 
Are we; there is no last or first. 
Say not ' a small event. ' Why ' small' ? 
Costs it more pain than this, ye call 
A 'great event,' should come to pass. 
Than that? Untwine me from the mass 
Of deeds which make up life, one deed - 

Power shall fall short in or exceed!" 



The Titles and Dates of Publication of 
Principal Works. 

1833 — Pauhne — A Fragment of a Confession. 

1835 — Paracelsus. (A tragedy without action.) 

1837 — Strafford. (A drama presented at Drury 
Lane Theatre.) 

1840 — Sordello. An Epic. 

1841-6 — • Bells and Pomegranates. (In eight num- 
bers.) Including "A blot in the Scutch- 
eon" (1843), "Pippa Passes" (1841), etc. 

Also 

1845 — Dramatic Romances. Containing "How 
They Brought the Good News from 



lo INTRODUCTION 

Ghent to Aix," "The Lost Leader," 
"The Boy and the Angel," "Saul," etc. 

1855 — Men and Women. Containing " Evelyn 
Hope," "By the Fireside" (personal), 
"Childe Roland to the Dark Tower 
Came," "Last Ride Together," "Andrea 
del Sarto," "Saul," "A Grammarian's 
Funeral," etc. 

1864 — Dramatis Personae. Containing "James 
Lee's Wife," "Abt Vogler," "A Death 
in the Desert," ' Caliban Upon Setabos,'* 
"Mr. Sludge, the Medium," etc. 

187 1 — Balaustion's Adventure. 

1872 — Fifine at the Fair. 

1873 — R^d Cotton Night-cap Country. 

1875 — Aristophanes' Apology and The Inn Album. 

1876 — Herve Riel. 

1879-80 — Dramatic Idyls. Containing "Pheidip- 
pides, etc." 

1883 — Jocoseria. 

1887 — Parleyings with Certain People of Impor- 
tance in Their Day. 

1890 — Asolando: Fancies and Facts. 



BROWNING'S POEMS 



CAVALIER TUNES. 

I. MARCHING ALONG. 

Kentish Sir Byng stood for his King, 
Bidding the crop-headed Parhament swing: 
And, pressing a troop unable to stoop 
And see the rogues flourish and honest folk 

droop. 
Marched them along, fifty-score strong, 5 

Great-hearted gentlemen, singing this song. 

God for King Charles! Pym and such carles 
To the Devil that prompts 'em their treasonous 

paries ! 
Cavahers, up! Lips from the cup. 
Hands from the pasty, nor bite take nor sup 10 
Till you 're — 

Chorus.— Marching along, fifty-score strong. 
Great-hearted gentlemen, singing 
this song. 



12 BROWNING'S POEMS 

Hampden to hell, and his obsequies' knell. 
Serve Hazelrig, Fiennes, and young Harry as 

well! 
England, good cheer! Rupert is near! 15 

Kentish and loyalists, keep we not here, 
Cho. — Marching along, fifty-score strong. 

Great-hearted gentlemen, singing this 
song? 

Then, God for King Charles! Pym and his 

snarls 
To the Devil that pricks on such pestilent 

carles ! 
Hold by the right, you double your might; 21 
So, onward to Nottingham, fresh for the fight, 
Cho. — March we along, fifty-score strong. 

Great-hearted gentlemen, singing this 
song! 

II. GIVE A ROUSE. 

King Charles, and who'll do him right now? 
King Charles, and who's ripe for fight now? 
Give a rouse: here's, in hell's despite now, 
King Charles! 

Who gave me the goods that went since? 5 

Who raised me the house that sank once? 
Who helped me to gold I spent since? 
Who found me in wine you drank once? 



I BROWNING'S POEMS 13 

Cho. — King Charles, and who'll do him 

^ right now? 

King Charles, and who's ripe for 

fight now? 10 

Give a rouse : here's, in hell's despite 

now. 
King Charles I 

To whom used my boy George quaff else. 
By the old fool's side that begot him? 
For whom did he cheer and laugh else, 15 

While Noll's damned troopers shot him? 

Cho. — King Charles, and who'll do him 
right now? 
King Charles, and who's ripe for 

fight now? 
Give a rouse: here's, in hell's despite 

now. 
King Charles! 20 

III. BOOT AND SADDLE. 

Boot, saddle, to horse, and away! 
Rescue my castle before the hot day 
Brightens to blue from its silvery gray. 
Cho. — Boot, saddle, to horse, and away! 

Ride past the suburbs, asleep as you'd say; 5 
Many's the friend there, will listen and pray 



14 BROWNING'S POEMS ! 

" God's luck to gallants that strike up the lay — 
Cho. — Boot, saddle, to horse, and away!" 

Forty miles off, like a roebuck at bay, 
Flouts Castle Brancepeth the Roundheads' ar- 
ray: 10 
Who laughs, "Good fellows ere this, by my 
fay, 
Cho. — Boot, saddle, to horse, and away!" 

Who ? My wife Gertrude ; that, honest and gay, 
Laughs when you talk of surrendering, "Nay! 
I've better counsellors; what counsel they? 15 
Cho. — Boot, saddle, to horse, and away!" 



THE LOST LEADER. 

Just for a handful of silver he left us, 

Just for a riband to stick in his coat — 
Found the one gift of which fortune bereft us, 

Lost all the others she lets us devote; 
They, with the gold to give, doled him out silver. 

So much was theirs who so little allowed: 6 
How all our copper had gone for his service! 

Rags — were they purple, his heart had been 
proud ! 
We that had loved him so, followed him, honored 
him, 



BROWNING'S POEMS 15 

Lived in his mild and magnificent eye, 10 
^earned his great language, caught his clear ac- 
cents, 
Made him our pattern to Hve and to die! 
Shakespeare was of us, Milton was for us. 
Burns, Shelley, were with us — they watch 
from their graves! 
He alone breaks from the van and the freemen — 
He alone sinks to the rear and the slaves! 16 
vVe shall march prospering — not through his 
presence ; 
Songs may inspirit us — not from his lyre ; 
Deeds will be done — while he boasts his quies- 
cence. 
Still bidding crouch whom the rest bade as- 
pire: 20 
Blot out his name, then, record one lost soul 
more, 
One task more dechned, one more footpath 
untrod. 
One more devils'-triumph and sorrow for 
angels. 
One wrong more to man, one more insult to 
God! 
Life's night begins: let him never come back 
to us! 25 
There would be doubt, hesitation and pain, 
Forced praise on our part — the glimmer of twi- 
light, 



i6 BROWNING'S POEMS 

Never glad confident morning again! 
Best fight on well, for we taught him — strike 
gallantly, ' 

Menace our heart ere we master his own; 30 
Then let him receive the new knowledge and 
wait us, 
Pardoned in heaven, the first by the throne! 



"HOW THEY BROUGHT THE GOOD 
NEWS FROM GHENT TO AIX." 

[16H i 

I sprang to the stirrup, and Joris, and he; ' 

I galloped, Dirck galloped, we galloped all three ; ^ 
" Good speed!" cried the watch, as the gate-bolts 

undrew; 
"Speed!" echoed the wall to us galloping 

through ; 
Behind shut the postern, the lights sank to rest. 
And into the midnight we galloped abreast. 6 



Not a word to each other; we kept the great j 

pace i 

Neck by neck, stride by stride, never changing 1 

our place; ^\ 



BROWNING'S POEMS 



17 



I turned in my saddle and made its girths tight, 
Then shortened each stirrup, and set the pique 

right. 10 

Rebuckled the check-strap, chained slacker the 

bit, 
Nor galloped less steadily Roland a whit. 

'Twas moonset at starting; but while we drew 

near 
Lokeren, the cocks crew and twilight dawned 

clear ; 
At Boom, a great yellow star came out to see ; 1 5 
At Duffield, 'twas morning as plain as could be ; 
And from Mecheln church-steeple we heard the 

half- chime. 
So Joris broke silence with, "Yet there is time!" 

At Aershot, up leaped of a sudden the sun, 
And against him the cattle stood black every one, 
To stare through the mist at us galloping past, 2 1 
And I saw my stout galloper Roland at last, 
With resolute shoulders, each butting away 
The haze, as some bluff river headland its spray : 

And his low head and crest, just one sharp ear 
bent back 25 

For my voice, and the other pricked out on his 
track ; 

And one eye's black intelligence — ever that glance 



i8 BROWNING'S POEMS 

O'er its white edge at me, his own master, ask- 
ance! 

And the thick heavy spume-flakes which aye and 
anon 

His fierce Hps shook upwards in galloping on. 30 

By Hasselt, Dirck groaned; and cried Joris, 
"Stay spur! 

Your Roos galloped bravely, the fault's not in 
her, 

We'll remember at Aix" — for one heard the 
quick wheeze 

Of her chest, saw the stretched neck and stagger- 
ing knees. 

And sunk tail, and horrible heave of the flank, 35 

As down on her haunches she shuddered and 
sank. 

So, we were left galloping, Joris and I, 
Past Looz and past Tongres, no cloud in the sky ; 
The broad sun above laughed a pitiless laugh, 
'Neath our feet broke the brittle bright stubble 

like chaff; 40 

Till over by Dalhem a dome-spire sprang white. 
And "Gallop," gasped Joris, "for Aix is in 

sight!" 

"How they'll greet us!" — and all in a moment 
his roan 



BROWNING'S POEMS 19 

Rolled neck and croup over, lay dead as a 

stone ; 
And there was my Roland to bear the whole 

weight 45 

Of the news which alone could save Aix from 

her fate, 
With his nostrils like pits full of blood to the brim, 
And with circles of red for his eye-socket's rim. 

Then I cast loose my buff-coat, each holster let 

fall. 
Shook off both my jack-boots, let go belt and all, 
Stood up in the stirrup, leaned, patted his ear, 51 
Called my Roland his pet-name, my horse with- 
out peer; 
Clapped my hands, laughed and sang, any noise, 

bad or good. 
Till at length into Aix Roland galloped and stood. 

And all I remember is — friends flocking round 
As I sat with his head 'twixt my knees on the 

ground; " 56 

And no voice but was praising this Roland of 

mine. 
As I poured down his throat our last measure of 

wine. 
Which (the burgesses voted by common consent) 
Was no more than his due who brought good 

news from Ghent. 69 



BROWNING'S POEMS 



THE PIED PIPER OF HAMELIN. 



Hamelin Town's in Brunswick, 

By famous Hanover city; 

Tlie river Weser, deep and wide, 
Washes its walls on the southern side; 
A pleasanter spot you never spied; 

But when begins my ditty. 

Almost five hundred years ago. 
To see the townsfolk suffer so 

From vermin, was a pity. 



II. 

Rats! lo 

They fought the dogs and killed the cats, 

And bit the babies in the cradles. 
And ate the cheeses out of the vats. 

And licked the soup from the cooks' own 
ladles, 
Spht open the kegs of salted sprats, 15 

Made nests inside men's Sunday hats, 
And even spoiled the women's chats 

By drowning their speaking 

With shrieking and squeaking 
In fifty different sharps and flats. 20 



BROWNING'S POEMS 21 

III. 

At last the people in a body 

To the Town Hall came flocking; 
" 'Tis clear," cried they, "our Mayor's a noddy; 

And as for our Corporation — shocking 
To think we buy gowns Hned with ermine 25 
For dolts that can't or won't determine 
What's best to rid us of our vermin! 
You hope, because you're old and obese, 
To find in the furry civic robe ease? 
Rouse up, sirs ! Give your brains a racking 30 
To find the remedy we're lacking. 
Or, sure as fate, we'll send you packing!" 
At this the Mayor and Corporation 
Quaked with a mighty consternation. 



IV. 

An hour they sat in council; 35 

At length the Mayor broke silence: 
"For a guilder I'd my ermine gown sell, 

I wish I were a mile hence! 
It's easy to bid one rack one's brain — 
I'm sure my poor head aches again, 40 

I've scratched it so, and all in vain. 
Oh for a trap, a trap, a trap!" 
Just as he said this, what should hap 
At the chamber-door but a gentle tap? 



^2 BROWNING'S POEMS 

"Bless US," cried the Mayor, "what's that?" 45 

(With the Corporation as he sat. 

Looking Httle though wondrous fat; 

Nor brighter was his eye, nor moister 

Than a too-long-opened oyster. 

Save when at noon his paunch grew mutinous 50 

For a plate of turtle green and glutinous) 

"Only a scraping of shoes on the mat? 

Anything Hke the sound of a rat 

Makes my heart go pit-a-pat!" 



V. 

' ' Come in ! " the Mayor cried, looking bigger : 5 5 
And in did come the strangest figure! 
His queer long coat from heel to head 
Was half of yellow and half of red, 
And he himself was tall and thin, 
With sharp blue eyes, each hke a pin, 60 

And light loose hair, yet swarthy skin. 
No tuft on cheek nor beard on chin, 
But Hps where smiles went out and in; 
There was no guessing his kith and kin: 
And nobody could enough admire 65 

The tall man and his quaint attire. 
Quoth one: "It's as my great-grandsire, 
Starting up at the Trump of Doom's tone. 
Had walked this way from his painted tomb- 
stone!" 



BROWNING'S POEMS 



VI. 



23 



He advanced to the council-table: 70 

And, "Please your honors," said he, "I'm able, 
By means of a secret charm, to draw 
All creatures living beneath the sun. 
That creep or swim or fly or run, 
After me so as you never saw! 75 

And I chiefly use my charm 
On creatures that do people harm. 
The mole and toad and newt and viper; 
And people call me the. Pied Piper." 
(And here they noticed around his neck 80 

A scarf of red and yellow stripe, 
To match with his coat of the self-same cheque; 
And at the scarf's end hung a pipe; 
And his fingers, they noticed, were ever stray- 
ing 
As if impatient to be playing 85 

Upon his pipe, as low it dangled 
Over his vesture so old-fangled.) 
"Yet," said he, "poor piper as I am, 
In Tartary I freed the Cham, 
Last June, from his huge swarms of gnats ; 90 
I eased in Asia the Nizam 
Of a monstrous brood of vampire-bats: 
And as for what your brain bewilders. 
If I can rid your town of rats 
Will you give me a thousand guilders?" 95 



24 BROWNING'S POEMS 

"One? fifty thousandl" — was the exclamation 
Of the astonished Mayor and Corporation. 



VII. 

Into the street the Piper stept, 

Smihng first a Httle smile, 
As if he knew what magic slept loo 

In his quiet pipe the while; 
Then, like a musical adept, 
To blow the pipe his lips he wrinkled, 
And green and blue his sharp eyes twinkled, 
Like a candle-flame where salt is sprinkled ; 105 
And ere three shrill notes the pipe uttered. 
You heard as if an army muttered; 
And the muttering grew to a grumbling; 
And the grumbhng grew to a mighty rumbling; 
And out of the houses the rats came tumbling. no 
Great rats, small rats, lean rats, brawny rats. 
Brown rats, black rats, gray rats, tawny rats, 
Grave old plodders, gay young friskers, 

Fathers, mothers, uncles, cousins. 
Cocking tails and pricking whiskers, 115 

Famihes by tens and dozens. 
Brothers, sisters, husbands, wives — 
Followed the Piper for their lives. 
From street to street he piped advancing, 
And step for step they followed dancing, 120 
Until they came to the river Weser, 



BROWNING'S POEMS 25 

Wherein all plunged and perished! 

— Save one who, stout as Julius Caesar, 
Swam across and lived to carry 

(As he, the manuscript he cherished) 125 

To Rat-land home his commentary: 

Which was, "At the first shrill notes of the pipe, 

I heard a sound as of scraping tripe. 

And putting apples, wondrous ripe, 

Into a cider-press's gripe: 130 

And a moving away of pickle- tub boards, 

And a leaving ajar of conserve- cupboards, 

And a drawing the corks of train-oil flasks. 

And a breaking the hoops of butter casks: 

And it seemed as if a voice 135 

(Sweeter far than by harp or by psaltery 

Is breathed) called out, 'Oh rats, rejoice! 

The world is grown to one vast drysaltery! 

So munch on, crunch on, take your nuncheon, 

Breakfast, supper, dinner, luncheon!' 140 

And just as a bulky sugar-puncheon. 

Already staved, like a great sun shone 

Glorious scarce an inch before me, 

Just as methought it said, 'Come, bore me!' 

— I found the Weser rolling o'er me." 145 



VIII. 

You should have heard the Hamehn people 
Ringing the bells till they rocked the steeple. 



26 BROWNING'S POEMS 

''Go," cried the Mayor, ''and get long poles, 
Poke out the nests and block up the holes! 
Consult with carpenters and builders, 150 

And leave in our town not even a trace 
Of the ratsl" — when suddenly, up the face 
Of the Piper perked in the market-place, 
With a, "First, if you please, my thousand 
guilders!" 

IX. 

A thousand guilders! The Mayor looked blue; 
So did the Corporation too. 156 

For council dinners made rare havoc 
With Claret, Moselle, Vin-de- Grave, Hock; 
And half the money would replenish 
Their cellar's biggest butt with Rhenish. 160 
To pay this sum to a wandering fellow 
With a gypsy coat of red and yellow! 
''Beside," quoth the Mayor with a knowing 

wink, 
" Our business was done at the river's 

brink ; 
We saw with our eyes the vermin sink, 165 

And what's dead can't come to Hfe, I think. 
So, friend, we're not the folks to shrink 
From the duty of giving you something for 

drink. 
And a matter of money to put in your poke; 
But as for the guilders, what we spoke 170 



BROWNING'S POEMS n't 

Of them, as you very well know, was in joke. 
Beside, our losses have made us thrifty. 
A thousand guilders 1 Come, take fifty I" 

X. 

The Piper's face fell, and he cried, 

"No trifling! I can't wait, beside! 175 

I've promised to visit by dinner time 

Bagdat, and accept the prime 

Of the Head-Cook's pottage, all he's rich in. 

For having left, in the Caliph's kitchen, 

Of a nest of scorpions no survivor: 180 

With him I proved no bargain-driver. 

With you, don't think I'll bate a stiver! 

And folks who put me in a passion 

May find me pipe after another fashion." 

XI. 

"How?" cried the Mayor, "d'ye think I brook 

Being worse treated than a Cook? 186 

Insulted by a lazy ribald 

With idle pipe and vesture piebald? 

You threaten us, fellow? Do your worst. 

Blow your pipe there till you burst!" 190 



XII. 



Once more he stept into the street, 
And to his Hps again 



28 BROWNING'S POEMS 

Laid his long pipe of smooth straight cane; 
And ere he blew three notes (such sweet 

Soft notes as yet musician's cunning 195 

Never gave the enraptured air) 

There was a rustling that seemed like a bustling 

Of merry crowds justling at pitching and hus- 
thng; 

Small feet were pattering, wooden shoes clatter- 
ing, 

Little hands clapping and little tongues chatter- 
ing, 200 

And, like fowls in a farm-yard when barley is 
scattering, 

Out came the children running. 

All the little boys and girls, 

With rosy cheeks and flaxen curls, 

And sparkling eyes and teeth like pearls, 205 

Tripping and skipping, ran merrily after 

The wonderful music with shouting and laughter. 



XIII. 

The Mayor was dumb, and the Council stood 
As if they were changed into blocks of wood. 
Unable to move a step, or cry 210 

To the children merrily skipping by, 
— Could only follow with the eye 
That joyous crowd at the Piper's back. 
But how the Mayor was on the rack, 



BROWNING'S POEMS 29 

And the wretched Council's bosoms beat, 215 
As the Piper turned from the High Street 
To where the Weser rolled its waters 
Right in the way of their sons and daughters! 
However, he turned from South to West, 
And to Koppelberg Hill his steps addressed, 220 
And after him the children pressed; 
Great was the joy in every breast. 
''He can never cross that mighty top! 
He's forced to let the piping drop. 
And we shall see our children stop I " 225 

When, lo, as they reached the mountain-side, 
A wondrous portal opened wide, 
As if a cavern was suddenly hollowed; 
And the Piper advanced and the children fol- 
lowed. 
And when all were in to the very last, 230 

The door in the mountain-side shut fast. 
Did I say, all ? No ! One was lame, 
And could not dance the whole of the way; 
And in after years, if you would blame 
His sadness, he was used to say — 235 

"It's dull in our town since my playmate*^ left! 
I can't forget that I'm bereft 
Of all the pleasant sights they see. 
Which the Piper also promised me. 
For he led us, he said, to a joyous land, '2ao 

Joining the town and just at hand. 
Where waters gushed and fruit-trees grew 



30 BROWNING'S POEMS 

And flowers put forth a fairer hue, 

And everything was strange and new; 

The sparrows were brighter than peacocks here, 

And their dogs outran our fallow deer, 246 

And honey-bees had lost their stings, 

And horses were bom with eagles' wings: 

And just as I became assured 

My lame foot would be speedily cured, 250 

The music stopped and I stood still. 

And found myself outside the hill, 

Left alone against my will, 

To go now limping as before, 

And never hear of that country more!" 255 

XIV. 

Alas, alas! for Hamelin! 

There came into many a burgher's pate 

A text which says that heaven's gate 

Opes to the rich at as easy rate 
As the needle's eye takes a camel in! 2^-0 

The Mayor sent East, West, North, and Soulh, 
To offer the Piper, by word of mouth, 

Wherever it was men's lot to find him. 
Silver and gold to his heart's content, 
If he'd only return the way he went, 265 

And bring the children behind him. 
But when they saw 'twas a lost endeavor, 
And Piper and dancers were gone forever, 



BROWNING'S POEMS 31 

They made a decree that lawyers never 

Should think their records dated duly 2 70 

If, after the day of the month and year, 
These words did not as well appear, 
"And so long after what happened here 

On the Twenty-second of July, 
Thirteen hundred and seventy-six:" 275 

And the better in memory to fix 
The place of the children's last retreat, 
They called it the Pied Piper's Street — 
Where any one playing on pipe or tabor 
Was sure for the future to lose his labor. 280 
Nor suffered they hostelry or tavern 

To shock with mirth a street so solemn; 
But opposite the place of the cavern 

They wrote the story on a column, 
And on the great church- window painted 285 
The same, to make the world acquainted 
How their children were stolen away, 
And there it stands to this very day. 
And I must not omit to say 
That in Transylvania there's a tribe 290 

Of alien people who ascribe 
The outlandish ways and dress 
On which their neighbors lay such stress, 
To their fathers and mothers having risen 
Out of some subterraneous prison 295 

Into which they were trepanned 
Long time ago in a mighty band 



32 BROWNING'S POEMS 

Out of Hamelin town in Brunswick land, 
But how or why, they don't understand. 



XV. 

So, Willy, let me and you be wipers 300 

Of scores out with all men — especially 

pipers ! 
And, whether they pipe us free from rats or from 

mice. 
If we've promised them aught, let us keep our 

promise ! 



INCIDENT OF THE FRENCH CAMP. 

You know, we French stormed Ratisbon: 

A mile or so away. 
On a little mound. Napoleon 

Stood on our storming-day; 
With neck out-thrust, you fancy how, 5 

Legs wide, arms locked behind. 
As if to balance the prone brow 

Oppressive with its mind. 

Just as perhaps he mused "My plans 
That soar, to earth may fall, 10 

Let once my army-leader Lannes 
Waver at yonder wall," — 



BROWNING'S POEMS 33 

Out 'twixt the battery-smokes there flew 

A rider, bound on bound 
Full-galloping; nor bridle drew 15 

Until he reached the mound. 

Then off there flung in smiling joy, 

And held himself erect 
By just his horse's mane, a boy: 

You hardly could suspect — 20 

(So tight he kept his lips compressed. 

Scarce any blood came through) 
You looked twice ere you saw his breast , 

Was all but shot in two. 

*' Well," cried he, " Emperor, by God's grace 25 

We've got you Ratisbon! 
The Marshal's in the market-place, 

And you'll be there anon 
To see your flag-bird flap his vans 

Where I, to heart's desire, 30 

Perched him ! ' ' The chief's eye flashed ; his plans 

Soared up again like fire. 

The chief's eye flashed; but presently 

Softened itself, as sheathes 
A fllm the mother-eagle's eye 35 

When her bruised eaglet breathes; 
''You're wounded!" "Nay," the soldier's pride 



34 BROWNING'S POEMS 

Touched to the quick, he said: 
'I'm killed, Sire!" And his chief beside, 
Smiling the boy fell dead. 40 



HERVE RIEL 
I. 

On the sea and at the Hogue, sixteen hundred 

ninety-two, 
Did the English fight the French — woe to 

France ! 
And the thirty-first of May, helter-skelter through 

the blue. 
Like a crowd of frightened porpoises a shoal of 

sharks pursue. 
Came crowding ship on ship to Saint Malo on 

the Ranee, 5 

With the EngHsh fleet in view. 

II. 

Twas the squadron that escaped, with the victor 
in full chase; 
First and foremost of the drove, in his great 
ship Damfreville; 
Close on him fled, great and small. 
Twenty-two good ships in all: 10 

And they signalled to the place 
''Help the winners of a race! 



BROWNING'S POEMS 



35 



Get us guidance, give us harbor, take us quick 

— or, quicker still. 
Here's the English can and will!" 

III. 

Then the pilots of the place put out brisk and 
leapt on board; 15 

"Why, what hope or chance have ships Hke 
these to pass?" laughed they: 
"Rocks to starboard, rocks to port, all the pas- 
sage scarred and scored. 
Shall the ' Formidable ' here with her twelve and 
eighty guns 
Think to make the river-mouth by the single 
narrow way. 
Trust to enter where 'tis ticklish for a craft of 
twenty tons, 20 

And with flow at full beside? 
Now, 'tis slackest ebb of tide. 
Reach the mooring? Rather say, 
While rock stands or water runs. 

Not a ship will leave the bay!" 25 

IV. 

Then was called a council straight. 
Brief and bitter the debate: 
'' Here's the English at our heels; would you 
have them take in tow 



2>6 BROWNING'S POEMS 

x\ll that's left us of the fleet, Hnked together stern 

and bow, 
For a prize to Plymouth Sound? 30 

Better run the ships aground!" 

(Ended Damfreville his speech). 
''Not a minute more to wait! 

Let the Captains all and each 

Shove ashore, then blow up, burn the vessels 
on the beach! 35 

France must undergo her fate. 



"Give the word!" But no such word 
Was ever spoke or heard; 

For up stood, for out stepped, for in struck 
amid all these 
— A Captain ? A Lieutenant ? A Mate — first, 
second, third? 40 

No such man of mark, and meet 
With his betters to compete! 
But a simple Breton sailor pressed by Tour- 
ville for the fleet, 
A poor coasting-pilot he, Herve Riel the Croisick- 
ese. 

VI. 

And "What mockery or malice have we here?" 
cries Herve Riel: 45 



BROWNING'S POEMS 37 

"Are you mad, you Malouins? Are you cow- 
ards, fools, or rogues? 
Talk to me of rocks and shoals, me who took the 

soundings, tell 
On my fingers every bank, every shallow, every 
swell, 
'Twixt the offing here and Greve w^here the 
river disembogues? 
Are you bought by English gold ? Is it love the 
lying's for? 50 

Morn and eve, night and day, 
Have I piloted your bay. 
Entered free and anchored fast at the foot of 
Sohdor. 
Burn the fleet and ruin France? That were 
worse than fifty Hogues! 
Sirs, they know I speak the truth ! Sirs, be- 
lieve me there's a way! 55 
Only let me lead the line. 

Have the biggest ship to steer. 
Get this 'Formidable' clear. 
Make the others follow mine. 
And I lead them, most and least, by a passage I 
know well, 60 

Right to Solidor past Greve, 

And there lay them safe and sound; 
And if one ship misbehave, 
— Keel so much as grate the ground, 
Why, I've nothing but my life — here's my 
head!" cries Herve Riel. 65 



3^ BROWNING'S POEMS 

VII. 

Not a minute more to wait. 
''Steer us in, then, small and great! 

Take the helm, lead the Hne, save the squad- 
ron!" cried its chief. 
Captains, give the sailor place! 

He is Admiral, in brief. 70 

Still the north-wind, by God's grace! 
See the noble fellow's face 
As the big ship, with a bound. 
Clears the entry like a hound, 
Keeps the passage as its inch of way were the 
wide sea's profound! 75 

See, safe through shoal and rock. 
How they follow in a flock. 
Not a ship that misbehaves, not a keel that grates 
the ground, 
Not a spar that comes to grief! 
The peril, see, is past, 80 

All are harbored to the last, 
And just as Herve Riel hollas "Anchor!" — sure 

as fate. 
Up the English come — too late ! 

VIII. 

So, the storm subsides to calm: 

They see the green trees wave 85 

On the heights o'erlooking Greve 



BROWNING'S POEMS 39 

Hearts that bled are stanched with balm. 
''Just our rapture to enhance, 

Let the English rake the bay, 
Gnash their teeth and glare askance 90 

As they cannonade away! 
'Neath rampired Solidor pleasant riding on the 

Ranee!" 
How hope succeeds despair on each Captain's 

countenance ! 
Out burst all with one accord, 

"This is Paradise for Hell! 95 

Let France, let France's King 
Thank the man that did the thing!" 
What a shout, and all one word, 

"Herve Kiel!" 
As he stepped in front once more, 100 

Not a symptom of surprise 
In the frank blue Breton eyes, 
Just the same man as before. 



IX. 

Then said Damfreville, ''My friend, 

I must speak out at the end, 105 

Though I find the speaking hard. 
Praise is deeper than the lips: 
You have saved the King his ships. 

You must name your own reward. 
'Faith, our sun was near eclipse! no 



40 BROWNING'S POEMS 

Demand whate'er you will, 
France remains your debtor still. 
Ask to heart's content and have! or my name's 
not Damfreville." 



Then a beam of fun outbroke 

On the bearded mouth that spoke, 115 

As the honest heart laughed through 

Those frank eyes of Breton blue: 

''Since I needs must say my say, 

Since on board the duty's done. 

And from Malo Roads to Croisic Point, what 
is it but a run? — 120 

Since 'tis ask and have, I may — 

Since the others go ashore — 
Come! A good whole holiday! 

Leave to go and see my wife, whom I call the 
Belle Aurore!" 

That he asked and that he got — nothing 
more. 125 

XI. 

Name and deed ahke are lost: 
Not a pillar nor a post 

In his Croisic keeps alive the feat as it 
befell; 
Not a head in white and black 



BROWNING'S POEMS 41 

On a single fishing smack, 130 

In memory of the man but for whom had gone 
to wrack 
All that France saved from the fight whence 
England bore the bell. 
Go to Paris: rank on rank 

Search the heroes flung pell-mell 
On the Louvre, face and flank! 135 

You shall look long enough ere you come to 
Herve Riel. 
So, for better and for worse, 
Herve Riel, accept my verse! 

In my verse, Herve Riel, do thou once more 
Save the squadron, honor France, love thy wife 
the Belle Aurore! 140 



HOME-THOUGHTS, FROM ABROAD. 

Oh, to be in England 
Now that April's there. 
And whoever wakes in England 
Sees, some morning, unaware. 
That the lowest boughs and the brush-wood 
sheaf 5 

Round the elm tree bole are in tiny leaf. 
While the chaffinch sings on the orchard bough 
In England — now! 



42 BROWNING'S POEMS 

And after April, when May follows, 
And the whitethroat builds, and all the swal- 
lows! 
Hark, where my blossomed pear-tree in the 
hedge i i 

Leans to the field and scatters on the clover 
Blossoms and dewdrops — at the bent spray's 

edge — 
That's the wise thrush; he sings each song twice 

over, 
Lest you should think he never could recapture 
The first fine careless rapture! i6 

And though the fields look rough with hoary 

dew. 
All will be gay when noontide wakes anew 
The buttercups, the httle children's dower 
— Far brighter than this gaudy melon-flower ! 20 



HOME -THOUGHTS, FROM THE SEA. 

Nobly, nobly Cape Saint Vincent to the North- 
west died away; 

Sunset ran, one glorious blood-red, reeking into 
Cadiz Bay; 

Bluish 'mid the burning water, full in face Tra- 
falgar lay; 

In the dimmest Northeast distance dawned 
Gibraltar, grand and gray; 



BROWNING'S POEMS 43 

"Here and here did England help me: how can 
I help England?" — say, 5 

Whoso turns, as I, this evening, turn to God to 
praise and pray, 

While Jove's planet rises yonder, silent over 
Africa. 



THE BOY AND THE ANGEL. 

Morning, evening, noon and night, 
''Praise God!" sang Theocrite. 

Then to his poor trade he turned, 
Whereby the daily meal was earned. 

Hard he labored, long and well; 5 

O'er his work the boy's curls fell. 

But ever, at each period, 

He stopped and sang, ''Praise God!'* 

Then back again his curls he threw. 

And cheerful turned to work anew. 10 

Said Blaise, the listening monk, "Well done; 
I doubt not thou art heard, my son: 



44 BROWNING'S POEMS 

"As well as if thy voice to-day 

Were praising God, the Pope's great way. 

"This Easter Day, the Pope at Rome 15 

Praises God from Peter's dome." 

Said Theocrite, "Would God that I 
Might praise him that great way, and die!" 

Night passed, day shone, 

And Theocrite was gone. 20 

With God a day endures alway, 
A thousand years are but a day. 

God said in heaven, "Nor day nor night 
Now brings the voice of my delight." 

Then Gabriel, Hke a rainbow's birth, 25 

Spread his wings and sank to earth; 

Entered, in flesh, the empty cell, 

Lived there, and played the craftsman well; 

And morning, evening, noon and night. 
Praised God in place of Theocrite. 30 

And from a boy, to youth he grew: 
The man put off the striphng's hue: 



BROWNING'S POEMS 45 

The man matured and fell away 
Into the season of decay: 

And ever o'er the trade he bent, 35 

And ever hved on earth content. 

(He did God's v^ill; to him, all one 
If on the earth or in the sun.) 

God said, "A praise is in mine ear; 

There is no doubt in it, no fear: 40 

''So sing old worlds, and so 

New worlds that from my footstool go. 

"Clearer loves sound other ways: 
I miss my Httle human praise." 

Then forth sprang Gabriel's wings, off fell 45 
The flesh disguise, remained the cell. 

'Twas Easter Day: he flew to Rome, 
And paused above St. Peter's dome. 

In the tiring-room close by 

The great outer gallery, 50 

With his holy vestments dight, 
Stood the new Pope, Theocrite. 



46 BROWNING'S POEMS 

And all his past career 
Came back upon him clear, 

Since when, a boy, he plied his trade, 55 

Till on his life the sickness weighed; 

And in his cell, when death drew near, 
An angel in a dream brought cheer: 

And rising from the sickness drear. 

He grew a priest, and now stood here. 60 

To the East with praise he turned. 
And on his sight the angel burned. 

"I bore thee from thy craftsman's cell, 
And set thee here; I did not well. 

''Vainly I left my angel-sphere, 65 

Vain was thy dream of many a year. 

''Thy voice's praise seemed weak; it dropped — 
Creation's chorus stopped! 

"Go back and praise again 

The early way, while I remain. 70 

"With that weak voice of our disdain, 
Take up creation's pausing strain, 



BROWNING'S POEMS 47 

''Back to the cell and poor employ: 
Resume the craftsman and the boy!" 

Theocrite grew old at home; 75 

A new Pope dwelt in Peter's dome. 

One vanished as the other died: 
They sought God side by side. 



PHEIDIPPIDES. 

First I salute this soil of the blessed, river and 

rock! 
Gods of my birthplace, daemons and heroes, 

honor to all! 
Then I name thee, claim thee for our patron, 

co-equal in praise 
— ■ Ay, with Zeus the Defender, with her of the 

aegis and spear! 
Also, ye of the bow and the buskin, praised be 

your peer, - 5 

Now, henceforth and forever — O latest to whom 

I upraise 
Hand and heart and voice! For Athens, leave 

pasture and flock! 
Present to help, potent to save. Pan — patron I 

call! 



48 BROWNING'S POEMS 

Archons of Athens, topped by the tettix, see, I 

return ! 
See, 'tis myself here standing aHve, no spectre 

that speaks! lo 

Crowned with the myrtle, did you command me, 

Athens and you, 
''Run, Pheidippides, run and race, reach Sparta 

for aid! 
Persia has come, we are here, where is She?" 

Your command I obeyed. 
Ran and raced: Hke stubble, some field which 

a fire runs through. 
Was a space between city and city: two days, 

two nights did I burn 15 

Over the hills, under the dales, down pits and up 

peaks. 

Into their midst I broke: breath served but for 

"Persia has come! 
Persia bids Athens proffer slaves'-tribute, water 

and earth; 
Razed to the ground is Eretria — but Athens, 

shall Athens sink. 
Drop into dust and die — the flower of Hellas 

utterly die, 20 

Die, with the wide world spitting at Sparta, the 

stupid, the stander-by? 
Answer me quick, what help, what hand do you 

stretch o'er destruction's brink? 



BROWNING'S POEMS 49 

How — when ? No care for my limbs 1 — there's 

Hghtning in all and some — 
Fresh and fit your message to bear, once lips give 

it birth!" 



O my Athens — Sparta love thee? Did Sparta 

respond? 25 

Every face of her leered in a furrow of envy, 

mistrust, 
Malice — each eye of her gave me its glitter of 

gratified hate! 
Gravely they turned to take counsel, to cast for 

excuses. I stood 
Quivering — the Hmbs of me fretting as fire frets, 

an inch from dry wood; 
" Persia has come, Athens asks aid, and still they 

debate ? 30 

Thunder, thou Zeus! Athene, are Spartans a 

quarry beyond 
Swing of thy spear? Phoibos and Artemis, 

clang them 'Ye must!' " 

No bolt launched from Olumpos! Lo, their 

answer at last! 
"Has Persia come — does Athens ask aid — 

may Sparta befriend? 
Nowise precipitate judgment — too weighty the 

issue at stake! 35 



so BROWNING'S POEMS 

Count we no time lost time which lags through 
respect to the gods! 

Ponder that precept of old, ' No warfare, what- 
ever the odds 

In your favor, so long as the moon, half-orbed, 
is unable to take 

Full-circle her state in the sky!' Already she 
rounds to it fast: 

Athens must wait, patient as we — who judg- 
ment suspend." 40 

Athens — except for that sparkle — thy name, 

I had mouldered to ash! 
That sent a blaze through my blood ; off, off and 

away was I back, 
— Not one word to waste, one look to lose on the 

false and the vile! 
Yet, "O gods of my land!" I cried, as each 

hillock and plain. 
Wood and stream, I knew, I named, rushing 

past them again, 45 

"Have ye kept faith, proved mindful of honors 

we paid you ere while? 
Vain was the filleted victim, the fulsome Hbation! 

Too rash 
Love in its choice, paid you so largely service so 

slack ! 
"Oak and olive and bay — I bid you cease to 

enwreathe 



BROWNING'S POEMS 51 

Brows made bold by your leaf! Fade at the Per- 
sian's foot, 50 

You that, our patrons were pledged, should never 
adorn a slave! 

Rather I hail thee, Parnes — trust to thy wild 
waste tract! 

Treeless, herbless, Hfeless mountain! What 
matter if slacked 

My speed may hardly be, for homage to crag 
and to cave 

No deity deigns to drape with verdure ? at least 
I can breathe, 55 

Fear in thee no fraud from the blind, no lie from 
the mute!" 

Such my cry as, rapid, I ran over Parnes' 
ridge ; 

Gully and gap I clambered and cleared till, sud- 
den, a bar 

Jutted, a stoppage of stone against me, blocking 
the way. 

Right! for I minded the hollow to traverse, the 
fissure across: 60 

''Where I could enter, there I depart by! Night 
in the fosse? 

Athens to aid? Though the dive were through 
Erebos, thus I obey — 

Out of the day dive, into the day as bravely 
arise! No bridge 



52 BROWNING'S POEMS 

Better!" — when — ha! what was it I came on, 
of wonders that are? 



There, in the cool of a cleft, sat he — majestical 
Pan! 65 

Ivy drooped wanton, kissed his head, moss cush- 
ioned his hoof: 

All the great god was good in the eyes grave- 
kindly — the curl 

Carved on the bearded cheek, amused at a mor- 
tal's awe. 

As, under the human trunk, the goat-thighs 
grand I saw. 

"Halt, Pheidippides!" — halt I did, my brain 
of a whirl: 70 

''Hither to me! Why pale in my presence?" 
he gracious began: 

"How is it — Athens, only in Hellas, holds me 
aloof ? 



"Athens, she only, rears me no fane, makes me 

no feast! 
Wherefore? Than I what godship to Athens 

more helpful of old? 
Ay, and still, and forever her friend! Test Pan, 

trust me! 75 

Go, bid Athens take heart, laugh Persia to scorn, 

have faith 



BROWNING'S POEMS 53 

In the temples and tombs! Go, say to Athens, 

'The Goat-God saith: 
When Persia — so much as strews not the soil — 

is cast in the sea, 
Then praise Pan, who fought in the ranks with 

your most and least, 
Goat-thigh to greaved-thigh, made one cause 

with the free and the bold!' 80 

" Say Pan saith : ' Let this, foreshowing the place, 

be the pledge!' " 
(Gay, the liberal hand held out this herbage I bear 
— Fennel — I grasped it a-tremble with dew — 

whatever it bode) 
"While, as for thee" . . . But enough! 

He was gone! If I ran hitherto — 
Be sure that, the rest of my journey, I ran no 

longer, but flew. 85 

Parnes to Athens — earth no more, the air was 

my road: 
Here am I back. Praise Pan, we stand no more 

on the razor's edge! 
Pan for Athens, Pan for me ! I too have a guer- 
don rare! 

Then spoke Miltiades. "And thee, best runner 
of Greece, 

Whose limbs did duty indeed — what gift is pro- 
mised thyself? 90 



54 BROWNING'S POEMS 

Tell it us straightway — Athens the mother de- 
mands of her son!" 

Rosily blushed the youth: he paused: but, Hft- 
ing at length 

His eyes from the ground, it seemed as he gath- 
ered the rest of his strength 

Into the utterance — "Pan spoke thus: 'For 
what thou hast done 

Count on a worthy reward! Henceforth be al- 
lowed thee release 95 

From the racer's toil, no vulgar reward in praise 
or in pelf!' 

"I am bold to believe. Pan means reward the 
most to my mind! 

Fight I shall, with our foremost, wherever this 
fennel may grow — 

Pound — Pan helping us — Persia to dust, and, 
under the deep, 

Whelm her away forever; and then — no Athens 
to save — 100 

Marry a certain maid, I know keeps faith to the 
brave — 

Hie to my house and home: and, when my chil- 
dren shall creep 

Close to my knees — recount how the God was 
awful yet kind, 

Promised their sire reward to the full — reward- 
ing him — so!" 



BROWNING'S POEMS 55 

Unforeseeing one ! Yes, he fought on the Mara- 
thon day: 105 

So, when Persia was dust, all cried "To Akro- 
poKs ! 

Run, Pheidippides, one race more! the meed is 
thy due! 

'Athens is saved, thank Pan,' go shout!" He 
flung down his shield. 

Ran like fire once more: and the space 'twixt the 
Fennel-field 

And Athens was stubble again, a field which a 
fire runs through, no 

Till in he broke: "Rejoice, we conquer!" Like 
wine through clay, 

Joy in his blood bursting his heart, he died, the 
bliss! 

So, to this day, when friend meets friend, the 

word of salute 
Is still "Rejoice!" — his word which brought 

rejoicing indeed. 
So is Pheidippides happy forever — the noble 

strong man 115 

Who could race like a god, bear the face of a god, 

whom a god loved so well; 
He saw the land saved he had helped to save, and 

was suffered to tell 
Such tidings, yet never decline, but, gloriously as 

he began, 



56 BROWNING'S POEMS 

So to end gloriously — once to shout, thereafter 

be mute: 
"Athens is saved!" — Pheidippides dies in the 

shout for his meed. 120 



EVELYN HOPE. 

Beautiful Evelyn Hope is dead! 

Sit and watch by her side an hour. 
That is her book-shelf, this her bed; 

She plucked that piece of geranium- flower, 
Beginning to die too, in the glass; 5 

Little has yet been changed, I think: 
The shutters are shut, no light may pass 

Save two long rays through the hinge's chink. 

Sixteen years old when she died! 

Perhaps she has scarcely heard my name; 10 
It was not her time to love; beside, 

Her hfe had many a hope and aim, 
Duties enough and little cares. 

And now was quiet, now astir, 
Till God's hand beckoned unawares — 15 

And the sweet white brow is all of her. 

Is it too late then, Evelyn Hope ? 
What, your soul was pure and true, 



BROWNING'S POEMS 57 

The good stars met in your horoscope, 

Made you of spirit, fire and dew — 20 

And, just because I was thrice as old 

And our paths in the world diverged so wide. 

Each was naught to each, must I be told? 
We were fellow mortals, naught beside? 

No, indeed! for God above 25 

Is great to grant, as mighty to make, 
And creates the love to reward the love: 

I claim you still, for my own love's sake! 
Delayed it may be for more lives yet. 

Through worlds I shall traverse, not a few : 30 
Much is to learn, much to forget 

Ere the time be come for taking you. 

But the time will come — at last it will, 

When, Evelyn Hope what meant (I shall say) 
In the lower earth, in the years long still, 35 

That body and soul so pure and gay? 
Why your hair was amber, I shall divine. 

And your mouth of your own geranium's red — 
And what would you do with me, in fine. 

In the new fife come in the old one's stead. 40 

I have hved (I shall say) so much since then, 

Given up myself so many times. 
Gained me the gains of various men, 

Ransacked the ages, spoiled the climes: 



58 BROWNING'S POEMS 

Yet one thing, one, in my soul's full scope, 45 
Either I missed or itself missed me: 

And I want and find you, Evelyn Hope! 
What is the issue? let us see! 



I loved you, Evelyn, all the while! 

My heart seemed full as it could be; 50 

There was place and to spare for the frank young 
smile. 
And the red young mouth, and the hair's young 
gold. 
So, hush — I will give you this leaf to keep : 
See, I shut it inside the sweet cold hand! 
There, that is our secret: go to sleep! 55 

You will wake, and remember, and under- 
stand. 



ONE WORD MORE. 
To E. B. B. 



There they are, my fifty men and women 
Naming me the fifty poems finished! 
Take them. Love, the book and me together; 
Where the heart lies, let the brain lie also. 



BROWNING'S POEMS 59 

II. 

Rafael made a century of sonnets, 5 

Made and wrote them in a certain volume 
Dinted with the silver-pointed pencil 
Else he only used to draw Madonnas: 
These, the world might view — but one, the 

volume. 
Who that one, you ask? Your heart instructs 

you. 10 

Did she live and love it all her lifetime? 
Did she drop, his lady of sonnets. 
Die, and let it drop beside her pillow 
Where it lay in place of Rafael's glory, 
Rafael's cheek, so duteous and so loving — 15 
Cheek, thee was wont to hail a painter's, 
Rafael's cheek, her love had turned a poet's? 

III. 

You and I would rather read that volume, 

(Taken to his beating bosom by it) 

Lean and list the bosom-beats of Rafael, 20 

Would we not ? than wonder at Madonnas — 

Her, San Sisto names, and Her, Foligno, 

Her, that visits Florence in a vision. 

Her, that's left with lilies in the Louvre — 

Seen by us and all the world in circle. 25 



6o BROWNING'S POEMS 



IV. 

You and I will never read that volume, 
Guido Reni, like his own eye's apple 
Guarded long the treasure-book and loved it, 
Guido Reni dying, all Bologna 
Cried, and the world cried too, "Ours, the treas- 
ure!" 30 
Suddenly, as rare things will, it vanished. 



Dante once prepared to paint an angel: 
Whom to please? You whisper "Beatrice." 
While he mused and traced it and retraced it, 
(Perad venture with a pen corroded 35 

Still by drops of that hot ink he dipped for. 
When, his left hand i' the hair o' the wicked. 
Back he held the brow and pricked its stigma. 
Bit into the live man's flesh for parchment. 
Loosed him, laughed to see the writing rankle, 40 
Let the wretch go festering through Florence) 
Dante, who loved well because he hated, 
Hated wickedness that hinders loving, 
Dante standing, studying his angel — 
In there broke the folk of his Inferno. 45 

Says he — "Certain people of importance" 
(Such he gave his daily dreadful line to) 
"Entered and would seize, forsooth, the poet." 
Says the poet — "Then I stopped my painting." 



BROWNING'S POEMS 6i 

VI. 

You and I would rather see that angel, 50 

Painted by the tenderness of Dante, 

Would we not ? — than read a fresh Inferno. 



VII. 

You and I will never see that picture. 
While he mused on love and Beatrice, 
While he softened o'er his outlined angel, 55 
In they broke, those ''people of importance:" 
We and Bice bear the loss forever. 



VIII. 

What of Rafael's sonnets, Dante's picture? 
This: no artist lives and loves, that longs not 
Once, and only once, and for one only 60 

(Ah, the prize!) to find his love a language 
Fit and fair and simple and sufficient — 
Using nature that's an art to others, 
Not, this one time, art that's turned his nature. 
Ay, of all the artists hving, loving, 65 

None but would forego his proper dowry — 
Does he paint? he fain would write a poem — 
Does he write ? he fain would paint a picture. 
Put to proof art ahen to the artist's. 
Once, and only once, and for one only, 70 



62 BROWNING'S POEMS 

So to be the man and leave the artist, 
Gain the man's joy, miss the artist's sorrow. 



IX. 

Wherefore? Heaven's gift takes earth's abate- 
ment! 
He who smites the rock and spreads the water. 
Bidding drink and Hve a crowd beneath him, 75 
Even he, the minute makes immortal, 
Proves, perchance, but mortal in the minute, 
Desecrates, belike, the deed in doing. 
While he smites, how can he but remember. 
So he smote before, in such a peril, 80 

When they stood and mocked — ^' Shall smiting 

help us?" 
When they drank and sneered — "A stroke is 

easy!" 
When they wiped their mouths and went their 

journey, 
Throwing him for thanks — "But drought was 

pleasant." 
Thus old memories mar the actual triumph; 85 
Thus the doing savors of disrelish; 
Thus achievement lacks a gracious somewhat; 
O'er-importuned brows becloud the mandate. 
Carelessness or consciousness — the gesture. 
For he bears an ancient wrong about him, 90 
Sees and knows again those phalanxed faces, 



BROWNING'S POEMS 63, 

Hears, yet one time more, the 'customed pre- 
lude — 

"How shouldst thou, of all men, smite, and save 
us?" 

Guesses what is hke to prove the sequel — 

"Egypt's flesh-pots — nay, the drought was bet- 
ter." . 95 

X. 

Oh, the crowd must have emphatic warrant' 
Theirs, the Sinai-forehead's cloven brilhance, 
Right-arm's rod-sweep, tongue's imperial fiat. 
Never dares the man put off the prophet. 

XI. 

Did he love one face from out the thousands, 100 

(Were she Jethro's daughter, white and wifely. 

Were she but the ^Ethiopian bondslave) 

He would envy yon dumb patient camel. 

Keeping a reserve of scanty water 

Meant to save his own hfe in the desert; 105 

Ready in the desert to deliver 

(Kneehng down to let his breast be opened) 

Hoard and life together for his mistress. 

XII. 

I shall never, in the years remaining. 

Paint you pictures, no, nor carve you statues, no 



64 BROWNING'S POEMS 

Make you music that should all-express me; 
So it seems: I stand on my attainment. 
This of verse alone, one life allows me; 
Verse and nothing else have I to give you. 
Other heights in other hves, God willing: 115 
All the gifts from all the heights, your own, Love ! 

XIII. 

Yet a semblance of resource avails us — 
Shade so finely touched, love's sense must seize it. 
Take these lines, look lovingly and nearly, 
Lines I write the first time and the last time. 1 20 
He who works in fresco, steals a hair-brush. 
Curbs the Hberal hand, subservient proudly. 
Cramps his spirit, crowds its all in little. 
Makes a strange art of an art familiar, 
Fills his lady's missal-marge with flowerets. 125 
He who blows through bronze, may breathe 

through silver. 
Fitly serenade a slumbrous princess. 
He who writes, may write for once as I do. 

XIV. 

Love, you saw me gather men and women. 
Live or dead or fashioned by my fancy, 130 
Enter each and all, and use their service. 
Speak from every mouth — the speech, a poem. 
Hardly shall I tell my joys and sorrows, 



BROWNING'S POEMS 65 

Hopes and fears, belief and disbelieving: 
I am mine and yours — the rest be all men's, 135 
Karshish, Cleon, Norbert, and the fifty. 
Let me speak this once in my true person, 
Not as Lippo, Roland, or Andrea, 
Though the fruit of speech be just this sen- 
tence : 
Pray you, look on these men and women, 140 
Take and keep my fifty poems finished; 
Where my heart Hes, let my brain He also! 
Poor the speech; be how I speak, for all things. 



XV. 

Not but that you know me! Lo, the moon's 

self! 
Here in London, yonder late in Florence, 145 
Still we find her face, the thrice-transfigured. 
Curving on a sky imbrued with color. 
Drifted over Fiesole by twihght. 
Came she, our new crescent of a hair's 

breadth. 
Full she flared it, lamping Samminiato, 150 
Rounder 'twixt the cypresses and rounder. 
Perfect till the nightingales applauded. 
Now, a piece of her old self, impoverished. 
Hard to greet, she traverses the house-roofs. 
Hurries with unhandsome thrift of silver, 155 
Goes dispiritedly, glad to finish. 



66 BROWNING'S POEMS 



XVI. 



What, there's nothing in the moon noteworthy? 
Nay : for if that moon could love a mortal, 
Use, to charm him (so to fit a fancy), 
All her magic ('tis the old sweet mythos), i6o 
She would turn a new side to her mortal, 
Side unseen of herdsman, huntsman, steers- 
man — 
Blank to Zoroaster on his terrace, 
Blind to Galileo on his turret. 
Dumb to Homer, dumb to Keats — him, even! 
Think, the wonder of the moonstruck mor- 
tal — 1 66 
When she turns round, comes again in heaven, 
Opens out anew for worse or better! 
Proves she like some portent of an iceberg 
Swimming full upon the ship it founders, 170 
Hungry with huge teeth of splintered crystals ? 
Proves she as the paved work of a sapphire 
Seen by Moses when he climbed the moun- 
tain? 
Moses, Aaron, Nabad and Abihu 
Qimbed and saw the very God, the Highest, 175 
Stand upon the paved work of a sapphire. 
Like the bodied heaven in his clearness 
Shone the stone, the sapphire of that paved 

work, 
When they ate and drank and saw God also! 



BROWNING'S POEMS 67 

XVII. 

What were seen ? None knows, none ever shall 
know. 180 

Only this is sure — the sight were other, 
Not the moon's same side, born late in Florence, 
Dying now impoverished here in London. 
God be thanked, the meanest of His creatures 
Boasts two soul-sides, one to face the world 
with, 185 

One to show a woman when he loves herl 



XVIII. 

This I say of me, but think of you. Love! 
This to you — yourself my moon of poets ! 
Ah, but that's the world's side, there's the won- 
der, 
Thus they see you, praise you, think they know 
you! 190 

There, in turn I stand with them and praise 

you — 
Out of my own self, I dare to phrase it. 
But the best is when I ghde from out them, 
Cross a step or two of dubious twilight, 
Come out on the other side, the novel 195 

Silent silver hghts and darks undreamed of. 
Where I hush and bless myself with silence. 



68 BROWNING'S POEMS 

XIX, 

Oh, their Rafael of the dear Madonnas, 
Oh, their Dante of the dread Inferno, 
Wrote one song — and in my brain I sing it, 20 
Prew one angel — borne, see, on my bosom! 



R. B. j 



NOTES. 



CAVALIER TUNES. 

These three songs are supposed to be sung by some fol- 
ijowers of Charles I., who was beheaded in the Civil War, 
when Oliver Cromwell and his followers, the Roundheads 
{so-called because, unlike the CavaHers, ihey wore their hair 
close-cropped) for a time conquered the RoyaHsts and in- 
Istituted a Republic. 

: MARCHING ALONG. 

1. Kentish. The county of Kent was generally loyal 
to the king. Byng was a well known name in Kent, having 
produced the great Sir George Byng. 

2. Crop-headed. The Roundhead Parliament, or Long 
Parliament, which condemned Charles to death in 1649. 

7. Pym. An English statesman, and one of the Parlia- 
mentary members opposed to King Charles. 

7. Carles. Worthless fellows. 

8. Paries. Parleyings, meetings. 

13. Hampden. Another celebrated statesman of the 
Roundhead Party. 

13. Obsequies. Funeral ceremonies. 

14. Hazelrig aud Fiennes. These were members of the 
Puritan Party. 

14. Young Harry. Sir Henry Vane, son of a noted 
follower of Charles, but himself a Roundhead. He was for 
a time governor of Massachusetts colony. 

15. Rupert. Prince Rupert, a nephew of Charles I., who 
fought in the Civil War on the king's side. 

69 



70 NOTES 

20. Pricks. Spurs. 



22. Nottingham. When the king openly broke with Par 
liament he retired to Nottingham, where his followers ralliec: 
round him and prepared for war. 

GIVE A ROUSE. 

16. Noll. A nickname given to Oliver Cromwell, the 
leader of the Roundheads. 

BOOT AND SADDLE. 

This lyric was originally entitled My Wife Gertrude. 

TO. Castle Brancepeth. There is a castle of this name 
near Durham. 

II. Fay. Faith. 



THE LOST LEADER. 

This poem describes a leader of thought, who, filled with 
liberal aspirations in his youth, abandons them in old age 
under stress of growing conservatism. 

The poem was popularly supposed to refer to the poet 
Wordsworth, who was a pronounced Liberal in his youth. 
In the following letter to the editor of Wordsworth's Prose 
Works, Browning states his attitude in the poem. 

"ig Warwick-Crescent, W., Feb. 24, '75. 
" Dear Mr. Grosart: — I have been asked the question 
you now address me with, and as duly answered it, I can't 
remember how many times; there is no sort of objection to 
one more assurance or rather confession, on my part, that I 
did in my hasty youth presume to use the great and venerated 
personality of Wordsworth as a sort of painter's model; one 
from which this or the other ])articular feature may be selected 
and turned to account; had I intended more, above all, such 
a boldness as portraying the entire man, I should not have 
talked about 'handfuls of silver and bits of ribbon.' These 
never influenced the change of politics in the great poet, 
whose defection, nevertheless, accompanied as it was by a 
regular face-about of his special party, was to my juvenile 
apprehension, and even mature consideration, an event to 



BROWNING'S POEMS 71 



pplore. But just as in the tapestry on my wall I can recog- 
ize figures which have struck out a fancy, on occasion, that 
hough truly enough thus derived, yet would be preposterous 
|is a copy, so, though I dare not deny the original of my little 
oem, I altogether refuse to have it considered as the 'very 
Q&gies' of such a moral and intellectual superiority. 
Faithfully yours, 

"Robert Browning." 

3. One gift. That is, gold. 

4. All the others. That is, lofty ideals, enthusiasm for 
'reedom, hopes of the human race, and so on. 

6. So little. In 181 3 Wordsworth was appointed Dis- 
tributor of Stamps for Westmoreland at a salary of five hun- 
dred pounds. In 1843 he was made poet-laureate. 

13. Milton. The great epic poet of England. He was 
)a Puritan and sided with Cromwell in the Civil War. 

14. Burns. The Scotch lyric poet, who was a radical in 
his philosophy. 

14. Shelley. One of the greatest of English lyric poets. 



HOW THEY BROUGHT THE GOOD 
NEWS FROM GHENT TO AIX. 

The incident referred to was supposed to have occurred 
during the seventeenth century. Three horsemen set out to 
carry a message from Ghent, a city in Belgium, to Aix-la- 
Chapelle, just on the German border. The distance is about 
one hundred and twenty miles. 

Browning wrote concerning the poem: 

"There is no sort of historical foundation for the poem 
about 'Good News from Ghent.' I wrote it under the bul- 
wark of a vessel, off the African coast, after I had been at 
sea long enough to appreciate even the fancy of a gallop on 
the back of a certain good horse 'York,' then in my stable at 
home. It was written in pencil on the fly-leaf of Bartoli's 
Simboli, I remember." 

3. Watch. A kind of police who patrolled the town 
during the night to see that all was safe. 



72 NOTES 

5. Postern. A small gate in the city wall. 

9. Girths. Straps that fasten the saddle about the horse. 

ID. Pique. The pommel or back of the saddle. 

14. Lokeren. A town somewhat north of Ghent; the 
other towns mentioned can easily be found on a good map. 

17. Mecheln. The church steeple with its skeleton clock 
face, fifty feet in diameter, is one of the most graceful towers 
in Belgium. 

31. Stay spur. Stop the horse. 

41. Dome-spire. The tower of the Cathedral of Aix, 
built by Charlemagne. 

43. Roan. A bay or sorrel colored horse. 

44. Croup. Hindquarters. 

49. Buff-coat. A coat of buff-leather worn by soldiers. 

49. Holster. A leather case for pistols. 

50. Jack-hoots. Long-legged boots. 

59. Burgesses. The freemen of a town; citizens. 



THE PIED PIPER OF HAMELIN. 

Browning wrote this story to amuse one of the children 
of his friend, Macready, who was confined to the house by 
illness. The legend may be found in Burton's Anatomy of 
Melancholy and in the Restitution of Decayed Intelligence, 
published in 1605 by Richard Verstegan. Baring-Gould, 
in his Curious Myths of the Middle Ages, gives the legend as 
follows: 

"Hamelin town was infested with rats, in the year 1284. 
In their houses the people had no peace from them; rats 
disturbed them by night and worried them by day. One 
day, there came a man into the town, most quaintly attired in 
parti-colored suit. Bunting, the man was called, after his 
dress. None knew whence he came or who he was. He 
announced himself to be a rat-catcher, and offered for a 
certain sum of money to rid the place of the vermin. The 
townsmen agreed to his proposal, and promised him the sum 



BROWNING'S POEMS 73 

demanded. Thereupon the man drew forth a pipe and 
piped. No sooner were the townsfolk released from their 
torment than they repented of their bargain, and . . . 
they refused to pay the stipulated remuneration. At this 
the piper waxed wroth, and vowed vengeance. On the 26th 
June, the feast of SS. John and Paul, the mysterious piper 
reappeared in Hamelin town. (He) led the way down the 
street, the children all following, whilst the Hamelin people 
stood aghast, not knowing what step to take, or what would 
be the result of this weird piping. He led them from the 
town towards a hill rising above the Weser. (One lame 
lad) alone was left; and in after years he was sad. 
Fathers and mothers rushed to the east gate, but when they 
came to the mountain, called Koppenberg, into which the 
train of children had disappeared, nothing was observable 
except a small hollow, where the sorcerer and their little ones 
had entered." 

1. Brunswick. A kingdom of Germany. 

2. By. Near. 
6. Ditty. Song. 

15. Sprats. Small herring. 

23. Noddy. A silly fellow. 

24. Corporation. The city council. 

28. Obese. Stout. 

37. Guilder. A Dutch and German coin generally 
worth about forty cents. 

5 1 . Glutino us. S ticky . 

58. Yellow. Parti-colored, after the fashion of the 
Mediaeval jesters. 

78. Newt. A kind of small lizard. 

79. Pied. Marked like a pie, that is, dressed in parti- 
color or motley. 

87. Old-fangled. Old-fashioned. "New-fangled" is a 
common expression, but this use of the word is Browning's 
own. 

89. Cham. The Cham or ruler of Tartary. 



74 NOTES 

91. Nizam. The sovereign of Hyderabad in India. 

123. Julius CcEsar. The great Roman general who 
saved himself at Alexandria by swimming the Hellespont. 

133. Train-oil. Oil extracted from whales. 

136. Psaltery. A small Jewish harp. 

138. Drysaltery. A factory of salted meats, drugs, etc« 

139. Nuncheon. Luncheon; the mid-day meal. 
141. Sugar-puncheon. A cask. 

153. Perked. Looked up briskly. 

158. Claret, etc. Well known brands of wine. 

160. Butt. A large cask for holding wine. 

169. Poke. A bag or pocket. 

172. Thrifty. Saving of our money. 

177. Bagdat. Bagdad. 

177. Prime. Best. 

179. Caliph. A Turkish governor. This title was orig- 
inally given to the successors of Mohammed. 

182. Stiver. A Dutch coin of small value. 

187. Ribald. A low fellow. 

220. Koppelherg. More commonly Koppenberg. 

230. All. The number of children that perished is given 
in the inscription at Hamelin as 130. 

232. Lame. In another version, two children were left, 
one lame and the other blind. 

246. Fallow. Of a pale reddish color. 

260. Needless eye. See Matthew xix., 24. At the gates 
of Eastern cities are small side portals for foot-passengers, 
supposed to have been called "needles." 

281. Hostelry. Inn. 

282. Street. There is a street in Hamelin called Brun- 



BROWNING'S POEMS 75 

genstrasse, because no music nor drum (Brunge) may be 
played in it. 

284. Story. The inscriptions in Hamelin recording the 
tale are a German one in golden letters on the wall of a 
house; a second in German on the Rathhaus; and one in 
Latin on the New Gate. 

290. Transylvania. A principality of the Austrian em- 
pire now incorporated with Hungary. 

296. Trepanned. Ensnared. 

300. Willy. Willy Macready. 

301. Pipers. "Paying the piper" is proverbial for bear- 
ing the cost of anything. There is an allusion here to some 
dealings between the poet and the elder Macready in regard 
to some plays. 



INCIDENT OF THE FRENCH CAMP. 

Ratisbon, an ancient Bavarian town, situated on the 
Danube, was stormed by Napoleon in 1809. It was ob- 
stinately defended by the Austrians. 

6. Legs wide. Compare Haydon's portrait of Napoleon. 

II. Lannes. One of Napoleon's marshals or generals. 

29. Flag-bird. The imperial standard of France bears 
an eagle. 

29. Vans. Wings. Compare Tennyson's: 

"Love spread his sheeny vans for flight." 

38. Quick. Living. Touched in his most sensitive or 
alive part. 

HERVE RIEL. 

This ballad was printed in the Cornhill Magazine. The 
proceeds were devoted to the people of Paris, suffering from 
the Franco-German War, and the magazine paid one hun- 
dred pounds for the poem in order to second the poet in his 
generosity. 



76 NOTES 

I. Hogue. The battle of La Hogue was fought on 
May 19, 1692, off the cape of that name. Admiral Tour- 
ville, the French commander, was trying to drive the English 
and Dutch fleets off the seas. This battle was decisive, as 
most of the French ships were either sunk or captured, and 
the sea-power was thenceforth transferred from France to 
England. 

5. St. Malo. A town on the north coast of France, at 
the mouth of the River Ranee. 

8. Damjreville. He was in command of one of the 
ships. 

17. Starboard. The right side of the ship. Port is the 
left side. 

30. Plymouth. An important English seaport. 

43. Pressed. Formerly, in times of emergency, men 
were taken by main force and obliged to enter the service 
of the navy. 

43. Breton. A native of the north of France. 

44. Croisickese. A native of La Croisic, on the southern 
coast of Brittany. 

46. Malouins. Inhabitants of St. Malo. 

49. Offing. The sea lying at a remote distance from 
shore. 

49. Greve. A bar at the mouth of the Ranee. 

49. Disembogues. Empties. 

53. Solidor. A part of the mainland on the inlet occu- 
pied by a fortress. 

124. Belle Aurore. The beautiful Aurore. 

125. Nothing more. In reality Herve Riel got a holiday 
for life. 

131. IVrack. Wreck. 

132. Bore the bell. Took the prize. 

135. Louvre. The famous art gallery of Paris. 



BROWNING'S POEMS 77 

HOME THOUGHTS, FROM ABROAD. 

The Brownings spent much of their time in Italy. 

6. Bole. The trunk of a tree. 

7. Chaffinch. A bird of the finch family, so called be- 
cause it is supposed to have an especial fondness for chaff, 
grasses, grain, bushes, etc. 

HOME THOUGHTS, FROM THE SEA. 

The poet is passing Trafalgar Bay at sunset, full of 
thoughts about Nelson's great victory over the combined 
fleets of France and Spain, Oct. 21, 1805. To the north- 
west he sees St. Vincent; to the northeast, Gibraltar. Re- 
membering how deep is the debt that England owes to the 
England of Nelson's day, which, alone and facing great odds, 
purchased freedom for Europe, Browning asks himself, 
"What return can I make? How can I help England 
now?" 

1. Cape St. Vincent. The extreme southwest point of 
Portugal. 

2. Cadiz. About 150 miles from St. Vincent. It was 
the scene of Sir Francis Drake's victory in 1587. 

3. Trafalgar. Half way between Cadiz and Gibraltar. 

7. Jove^s planet. Jupiter, the largest of the planets. 

7. Africa. The African coast is forty miles south of 
Trafalgar. 



THE BOY AND THE ANGEL. 

This poem is an Easter parable upon the grace of con- 
tentment. It is the legend of a boy following his trade in 
a monastery and praising God by his work and with his 
heart. He is not satisfied, however; he wants to praise 
God in some great way. He gets his wish and becomes Pope. 
But as he is preparing for the great Easter festival, an angel 
reveals to him that the simple love and praise of the boy 
were more acceptable to God than the grand cerem.onies of 



78 NOTES 

the priest. So the Pope goes back to his former condition, 
having learned the infinite value of even the humblest human 
soul in God's eyes. 

II. Monk. A man who voluntarily secludes himself 
from the world to devote his life to praising God. 

i6. Peter's. St. Peter's, the great Cathedral in Rome 
designed by Michael Angelo and Bramante. It is the largest 
church in the world. 

25. Gabriel. One of the archangels mentioned in the 
Bible. 

49. Tiring-room. The vestry where the priest's robes are 
kept. 

51. Dight. CI thed. 

61. To the East. Turning to the East, the source of 
light, is symbolic of the belief that Christ, the Son of Right- 
eousness, is both our light and our dayspring. 

73. Back, etc. In the first edition the concluding verses 
were as follows: 

"Go back and praise again 
The early way, while I remain. 

"Be again the boy all curl'd; 
I will finish with the world." 

Theocrite grew old at home, 
Gabriel dwelt in Peter's dome. 



PHEIDIPPIDES. 

This poem is based on a semi-historical story found in 
Herodotus' History, vi., 105, 106. When the Persians in- 
vaded Greece in 490 B. C, Athens sent Pheidippides, a 
fleet runner, to Sparta for aid. In thirty-six hours he was 
in Sparta, a distance of 140 miles from Athens. After the 
tattle of Marathon, Miltiades, the Athenian general, de- 
spatched a runner — though the accounts do not say Pheidip- 
pides — to announce the victory to the city. He reached it 
in such a breathless state that he could only gasp, "Victory 
is ours!" and fall dead. 



BROWNING'S POEMS 79 

Xaipere, viKu/iev "Rejoice! we are victorious!" 

1. River. The Ilissus, a small stream flowing close 
to the Acropolis. 

2. Dcemons. Familiar spirits; demi-gods. 

3. Thee. Pan, god of rural life generally. 

4. Zeus. The supreme god. 

4. Her. Athene* the goddess of wisdom and patron 
deity of Athens. 

4. ^gis. The shield of Zeus, emblem of divine pro- 
tection. It was sometimes borne by Athene. 

5. Ye. Apollo, god of the bow, and Diana, goddess 
of the chase. They were twins. 

5. Buskin. A kind of half boot made of leather. 

9. Archons. Magistrates, rulers. 

9. Tettix. The cicada, an emblem of the Athenians, 
symbolizing their claim to being the only race springing from 
Grecian soil. 

12. Sparta. A powerful nation in the south of Greece. 

13. Persia. The Persians under Darius invaded Greece 
and, after destroying Eretria, crossed into Attica and marched 
toward Athens. 

18. Slave' s-tribute. Earth and water are the Asiatic 
tokens of submission. 

20. Hellas. Greece. Hellenes was the name by which 
the Greek people called themselves. 

32. Phoibos. The Greek spelling of Phoebus Apollo 
and Diana. 

33. Olumpos. Olympus, a mountain supposed to be 
the home of the gods. 

38. Moon. Herodotus says: "The Spartans wished to 
help the Athenians, but were unable to give them any present 
succor, as they did not like to break their established law. 
It was the ninth day of the first decade, and they could not 
march out of Sparta on the ninth, when the moon had not 
reached the full, so they waited for the full of the moon." 



8o NOTES 

The excuse was probably a subterfuge, as Sparta was never 
too friendly to Athens. 

47. Filleted. Animals intended for sacrifice were 
crowned with wTeaths and ribbons. 

47. Libation. Wine poured out as a drink offering to 
the gods. 

49. Oak and olive. Only free-born Hellenes could be 
crowned thus. *" 

52. Fames. According to Herodotus, the meeting be- 
tween Pheidippides and Pan took place in Arcadia, where 
Pan was supposed to dwell. 

61. Fosse. Gully. 

62. Erehos. Hades, the vvorld of darkness. 

65. Pan. "This man," says Herodotus, "according to 
account which he gave to the Athenians on his return, 
when he was near Mount Parthenium, above Tegea, fell in 
\ni\v the god Pan, who called him by his name, and bade 
him ask the Athenians 'wherefore they neglected him so 
entirely, when he was kindly disposed towards them, and 
had often helped them in times past, and would do so again 
in time to come?' The Athenians, entirely believing in the 
truth of this report, as soon as their affairs were once more 
in good order, set up a temple to Pan under the Acropolis, 
and, in return for the message which I have recorded, estab- 
lished in his honor yearly sacrifices and a torch -race." 

66. Hoof. Pan was supposed to have the thighs and 
hoofs of a goat, a goat's beard and horns, a flat nose, and a 
thick chin. His appearance was so hideous that he is sup- 
posed to have frightened the Persians at Marathon, and this 
helped the x\thenians to victory. 

80. Greaved. The greaves were pieces of armor worn 
on the front of the legs below the knees. 

83. Fennel. The word Marathon means "fennel field," 
hence the gift was significant. 

87. Razor's edge. In extreme peril. 

89. Miltiades. The Athenian leader. 

105. Unforeseeing. He httle knew what his fate would 



BROWNING'S POEMS 8i 

\ 
I 

[ really be. Neither Herodotus nor Plutarch give any account 

of Pheidippides after the battle. 

io6. Akropolis. The citadel of Athens, a rocky hill in 
the midst of the city, upon which stood the temple to 
Athene. 

119. End gloriously. In contrast to the ending of Mil- 
tiades, who finally died in prison. 



EVELYN HOPE. 

19. Horoscope. The particular conjunction of stars at 
the moment of a person's birth indicated, according to the 
old astrologers, the course of their future life. 

31. To learn. That is, to be learned. 

39. Me. For myself; compare the Latin ethical dative. 

44. Spoiled. Despoiled. 

ONE WORD MORE. 

This poem was originally appended to the volume called 
Men and Women, written during the happy period of Brown- 
ing's life in Italy, and is addressed to the poet's wife. 

I. Fifty men. There were fifty poems in the volume. 

5. Rafael. The great Italian painter of the fifteenth 
century. 

5. Century. That is, one hundred. 

9. One. That is, the lady whom he loved. She was 
reputed to be the daughter of a turf burner of Rome and has 
been called by posterity the Fomarina. A picture of a 
beautiful woman in the Barberini Palace is supposed to be 
her portrait. Some of the sonnets she inspired were written 
I on the backs of sketches and are still preserved. 

22. San Sisto. The Madonna Di San Sisto in the 

I Dresden gallery. 



82 NOTES 

as are the other two mentioned, La Belle Jardiniere in Paris 
and the Gran Duca in Florence. 

29. Guido Rem. An Italian artist of the Bolognese 
school ( 1 595-1 642). 

32. Dante. The greatest of Italian poets. In this 
poem, the Vita Nuova, he relates that once, on the anni- 
versary of Beatrice's death (the woman whom in youth he 
loved and who, in his vision, led him through Paradise) 
"remembering me of her, as I sat alone, I betook myself 
to draw the resemblance of an angel on certain tablets. 
And while I did this, chancing to turn my head, I perceived 
that some were standing beside me, to whom I should have 
given courteous welcome, and that they were observing what 
I did; also I learned afterward that they had been there a 
while before I perceived them. Seeing whom, I arose for 
salutations and said, 'Another was with me.' " 

35. Peradventure. Perhaps. 

45. Inferno. The great work of Dante consists of his 
description of Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise. The former 
was peopled by many of the citizens of Florence in his day, 

57. Bi^e. A diminutive of Beatrice. 

73. Abatement. That is, the work of the poet or artist 
is often misunderstood and desecrated by those who receive it. 

79. Smites. A reference to Moses smiting the rock. 
See Exodus, xvii., 6. 

91. Phalanxed. Arranged like an army. In the Ro- 
man army each division of troops was called a "phalanx." 

95. Flesh-pots. And the children of Israel said unto 
them, Would to God we had died by the hand of the Lord 
in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the flesh-pots, and 
when we did eat bread to the full. — E/x., xvi., 3. 

97. Sinai. The mountain upon which the Lord de- 
scended in fire and smoke to speak to the people of Israel. 

loi. Jethro^s. Jethro was a priest of Midian, Moses' 
father-in-law. 

104. Reserve. An allusion to the camel's habit of stowing 
water in one of his stomachs for use in the desert. 



BROWNING'S POEMS 83 

121. Fresco. Painting done on walls, the plaster of 
which is still damp. 

125. Missal. The prayer-book of the Catholic Church, 
which was often beautifully ornamented or illuminated, as 
it is called, with tiny pictures and margin borders. 

126. Silver. That is, one who blows a trumpet may also 
play on a silver flute. 

136. Karshish, etc. These are all characters about 
whom Browning had written in the volume Men and Women. 

148. Fiesole. A small town near the city of Florence. 

160. Mythos. Diana, goddess of the moon, once loved 
Endymion, a beautiful Greek youth, whom she kissed as he 
lay sleeping in a cave on Latmos. 

163. Zoroaster. The great sage and prophet of the Per- 
sians. 

165. Homer. The great Greek epic poet. 

165. Keats. An English lyric poet of the nineteenth 
century. He has written a long poem on Endymion. 

172. Sapphire. See Exodus, xxiv., 9. Then went up 
Moses, and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the 
elders of Israel. 

And they saw the God of Israel: and there was under 
his feet as it were a paved work of a sapphire stone, and as 
it were the body of heaven in his clearness. 

And upon the nobles of the children of Israel he laid not 
his hand: also they saw God and did eat and drink. 

185. Boasts, etc. This sentence contains the meaning 
of the poem reduced to its lowest terms. 



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